Speeches by Ribeiro-Addy.

“I rise to speak to the many amendments that attempt to improve this Bill, which I signed in desperation, because I did not enter politics to strip vital support from those who need it, yet the Bill does exactly that. We are the party that created the welfare state, so we know the welfare state is not a handout—sadly, t…”

“You still flag them to another agency?”

“So that is the only thing you, I suppose, solely do by yourselves in terms of support?”

“Is the move-on service in some ways just another flagging service in that you are pointing them in the direction of other services?”

“Thank you. I just want to find out what the most common complaints that you receive about asylum accommodation providers are. Are there any patterns with particular providers or regions or types of accommodation that get those quite specific complaints?”

“How often do you escalate unresolved cases to the Home Office? Does that typically lead to a resolution or do you find yourself going back again?”

“What happens then? I suppose that would be quite a serious case where they are not meeting their contractual obligations again and again. How does that then get resolved?”

“Even if it has been flagged with you a couple of times, it is still left with the Home Office?”

“Serco said to this Committee in written evidence that having Migrant Help and providers as a go-between is one of the things that leads to miscommunications and inefficiencies. Serco suggested that it might be easier to get some of these issues resolved, particularly in the case of maintenance and repairs, if service u…”

“I want to ask some questions about some of the issues that asylum seekers raise with the accommodation providers. However, before I do I want to understand how you see your purpose. Listening to some of the answers to questions that my colleagues are asking, it sounds like you are primarily just a flagging service. Car…”

“Do you see any evidence of learning and improvement by accommodation providers, or the Home Office in response to the issues which you raise most often?”

“Has anybody ever raised concerns about your name and how you operate? You are called Migrant Help, and some people might think that you are a friendly, cuddly, NGO-type organisation, but you are actually contracted by the Home Office. Has anybody ever raised that your name might be slightly misleading? Caroline O’Conno…”

“How do you actually help, if that makes sense? Caroline O’Connor: On the telephone lines, for example, besides the issue reporting services that we provide, we provide support for asylum seekers, for example, who have an issue with their HC1 card and are unable to access healthcare, whose children are trying to get int…”

“Does the right hon. Member believe just by looking at me and my hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) next to me that the legislation could apply to people who look like us?”

“I thank the Minister for giving way again. I am again completely confused. His specific example at the beginning aside, I still do not understand why, if the individuals concerned pose such a huge threat, other pieces of legislation will not deal with them and keep the public safe. He also pointed to the fact that some…”

“I hope the Minister understands the assurances I have been asking for. This will be the third time I have asked. I genuinely want to understand why someone who is such a danger to our public cannot be dealt with under other pieces of legislation. At the moment it seems that we cannot even stop them coming into the coun…”

“I agree that the most important role of any Government is to keep their citizens safe, but I do not believe that citizenship is a privilege; I believe that it is a right. I also do not believe that the Minister answered my questions adequately earlier. I want to understand why, if somebody is such a huge threat to this…”

“I am confused. If the individuals in question have done something so bad that they have to be deprived of their citizenship, why would we not simply jail them? Why would we need to deprive them of their citizenship?”

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. You may remember that on 23 April, I asked a question in Prime Minister’s questions about blood donations and how people were being turned away because of low haemoglobin levels. The week before, I had put down some parliamentary questions about diversity and blood donation deferrals. W…”

“I rise to speak in support of new clause 107, which stands in my name, and to lend my support to other vital amendments, particularly those relating to protest rights, joint enterprise, facial recognition and predictive policing technologies. New clause 107 would require the Home Secretary to publish a comprehensive eq…”